500 million gallons of sludge left over from burning coal broke the wall containing them and have covered 400 acres, dumping in huge amounts into tributaries of the Tennessee river. This sort of sludge contains Mercury and Arsenic in dangerously high levels.

CNN’s article that just went up said this:

“We deeply regret that a retention wall for ash containment at our Kingston Fossil Plant failed, resulting in an ash slide and damage to nearby homes,” TVA said in a statement released Tuesday.

The understatement here is incredible. “Deeply regret” falls so laughably short of where they should be. This is a six foot wall of toxic sludge covering 400 acres and entering the water supply. They are talking about months or even years to clean this up, and all TVA can come up with is, essentially, “oops, sorry!” They consider it minor because only 10-12 homes were damaged, and no people were killed or seriously injured. Never mind the ecological disaster, it’s perfectly fine! I’d laugh if I weren’t so appalled by it.